(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to office information systems, such as copiers, facsimiles or printers, and more particular to an office information system having a device which provides a user (or a request source) with an operational message of the office information system when an specific event occurs.
(2) Description of the Related Art
FIG. 8 shows an enclosure of an office information system according to the related art. This office information system is, for example, a copier, a facsimile or a printer.
In the office information system of FIG. 8, a liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel 101 is provided on top of an enclosure 100, and an access door 102 is provided at a lower portion of the enclosure 100. The access door 102 is opened by the operator or user who wishes to look into the internal components of the system for the purpose of repair or maintenance.
When a failure, such as paper jam or lack of toner, in the office information system of the above type takes place, an image indicating a failure location in the system is displayed on the LCD panel 101.
FIG. 9 shows an image of a failure location displayed on the LCD panel 100 of the office information system of FIG. 8. In the example of FIG. 9, a paper jam occurs in the system and a location xe2x80x9cB3xe2x80x9d of the paper jam in the system is indicated in the displayed image.
FIG. 10 shows an internal structure of the office information system of FIG. 8 when the access door 102 is opened and the internal components of the system are looked into. As shown in FIG. 10, the office information system includes, for example, a plurality of components at respective locations A1, A2, B1, B2 and B3.
The user views the image on the LCD panel 100, opens the access door 102, and searches for the location of the paper jam in the actual system corresponding to the location xe2x80x9cB3xe2x80x9d in the displayed image. If the location of the paper jam can be found, the user performs a repairing or correcting operation on the related component at the location xe2x80x9cB3xe2x80x9d so as to eliminate the failure from the system.
However, in the office information system of FIG. 8, a guidance message which helps the user to recover the paper jam or lack of toner in the system is only the image displayed on the LCD panel 101. Such a message is often inadequate for the user to complete failure-recovery operations on the system, and this makes it difficult to efficiently carry out the failure recovery.
For example, when the location xe2x80x9cB3xe2x80x9d of the failure indicated by the displayed image is a concealed place within the system, finding the actual component related to the failure in the system is difficult, or a considerable time and cost is needed to find it. When a certain preliminary operation must be formed to reach the related component at the location xe2x80x9cB3xe2x80x9d of the failure, the user is often unable to recognize the need of the preliminary operation from the displayed image only. Therefore, it is desirable that an office information system which-ensures easy searching and recognition of a location of a failure in the system and provides the user with a failure-recovery operational message for efficient failure recovery is provided.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved office information system in which the above-described problems are eliminated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an office information system which ensures easy searching and recognition of a location of a failure in the system and provides a user with a failure-recovery operational message that allows efficient failure recovery in the system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an office information system which allows the setting of customized operational messages of the system appropriate for individual users and increases the operability of the system for the individual users by the use of the customized operational messages.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an office information system having a communication device linked to a remote terminal via a network for telecommunications between the system and the remote terminal, which safely returns, when an image from the remote terminal is received at the system but an error occurs in the outputting of a reconstructed image by the system, an error message back to the remote terminal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an office information system having a communication device linked to a remote terminal via a network for telecommunications between the system and the remote terminal, which safely returns, when a specific request from the remote terminal is accepted at the system, an operational message related to image quality or sheet quality, back to the remote terminal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an office information system which ensures easy searching and recognition of a failure in the system by using a result of a machine noise evaluation, and provides a user with an operational message that allows efficient failure recovery in the system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an office information system which ensures easy recognition of lack of toner or lack of copy sheets in the system by providing a user with a failure-detection voice message based on a result of a self-diagnosis of the system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an office information system which provides a user with an increased operability in the setting of operating conditions and operating condition changes to an image forming operation being executed on the office information system, and allows easy operating-condition setting procedures for the user.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an office information system which ensures improved man-machine interface which allows a user to easily recognize an operational error in the system.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved by an office information system including: a path record storage device which stores a plurality of path records related to components of the system, each path record indicating a locating path needed to reach a location of a specific one of the components in the system when a failure of the specific one of the components occurs; a failure location detecting device which detects a location of a component in the system when a failure related to the component occurs; a reached location determining device which reads a path record from the path record storage device when the location of the failure is detected, and determines a currently reached location in the system based on the path indicated by the path record; and a message device which generates, when the reached location is determined, an operational message needed for recovering the failure at a subsequent location of the path following the reached location.
In the office information system of the present invention, the reached location determining device reads a path record from the path record storage device when the location of the failure is detected, and determines a currently reached location in the system based on the path indicated by the path record, and the message device generates, when the reached location is determined, an operational message needed for recovering the failure at a subsequent location of the path following the reached location. The office information system of the present invention is effective in providing easy searching and recognition of a location of a failure in the system and in providing the user with a failure-recovery operational message that allows efficient failure recovery in the system.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved by an office information system including: a user identifying device which authenticates a personal identification by receiving a user ID; a customizing device which generates a customized operational message of the system appropriate for a user whose identification is authenticated; and an operational history storage device which stores operational history records of a number of users, each user having a different user ID, and each history record indicating an operational characteristic of one of the number of users, wherein the customizing device reads an operational history record of the user, whose identification is authenticated, from the operational history storage device, detects the operational characteristic of the user from the read history record, and updates the customized operational message in accordance with the detected operational characteristic.
In the office information system of the present invention, the customizing device reads an operational history record of the user, whose identification is authenticated, from the operational history storage device, detects the operational characteristic of the user from the read history record, and updates the customized operational message in accordance with the detected operational characteristic. The office information system of the present invention is effective in setting the customized operational messages of the system appropriate for individual users and in increasing the operability of the system for the individual users by the use of the customized operational messages.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved by an office information system including: a communication device linked to a remote terminal via a network for telecommunications between the system and the remote terminal; an information processing device which produces a reconstructed image when an image transmitted by the remote terminal is received by the communication device via the network; an output-data processing device which determines whether the reconstructed image output from the information processing device is defective in an image quality; and a message device which supplies, when the reconstructed image is determined as being defective, an error message, indicating that an error occurs in the outputting of the image by the system, to the communication device, so that the error message is transmitted to the remote terminal via the network.
In the office information system of the present invention, the output-data processing device determines whether the reconstructed image output from the information processing device is defective in the image quality, and the message device supplies, when the reconstructed image is determined as being defective, an error message, indicating that an error occurs in the outputting of the image by the system, to the communication device, so that the error message is transmitted to the remote terminal via the network. The office information system of the present invention is effective in safely transmitting an error message from the system to the remote terminal when an error occurs in the outputting of the image by the system.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved by an office information system including: a communication device linked to a remote terminal via a network for telecommunications between the system and the remote terminal; a printing device which produces a printed image; an image-quality evaluation device which produces a result of evaluation of a quality of the printed image every time the printed image is output by the printing device; and a storage device, coupled to the communication device, which stores the result of evaluation output by the image-quality evaluation device, wherein a latest result of the evaluation that is output by the image-quality evaluation device is stored in the storage device, and the communication device transmits an operational message, indicating the stored latest result of the evaluation, to the remote terminal via the network when an image-quality message request from the remote terminal is received at the communication device.
In the office information system of the present invention, the latest result of the evaluation that is output by the image-quality evaluation device is stored in the storage device, and the communication device transmits an operational message, indicating the stored latest result of the evaluation, to the remote terminal via the network when an image-quality message request from the remote terminal is received at the communication device. The office information system of the present invention makes it possible to provide the user on the remote terminal with the operational message of the system when a specific request from the remote terminal is received.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved by an office information system including: a sound input device which accepts an input signal; an acoustic signal detecting device which detects an acoustic signal from the input signal accepted by the sound input device; a first evaluation device which determines whether the detected acoustic signal is a noise signal or a speech signal; a speech dictionary which stores reference feature patterns provided for a speech recognition; a machine noise dictionary which stores reference noise patterns provided for a noise/speech evaluation; a speech recognition device which recognizes, when the detected acoustic signal is determined as being the speech signal, the speech signal as being an operational request based on the reference feature patterns from the speech dictionary; a second evaluation device which determines whether the noise signal is acceptable based on the reference noise patterns from the machine noise dictionary, when the detected acoustic signal is determined as being the noise signal; a noise storage device which stores a machine noise signal; a noise storage control device which allows the machine noise signal to be stored into the noise storage device, based on a result of the determination of the noise signal by the second evaluation device; and a sound output device which reproduces the noise signal from the noise storage device.
In the office information system of the present invention, the second evaluation device determines whether the noise signal is acceptable based on the reference noise patterns from the machine noise dictionary, when the detected acoustic signal is determined as being the noise signal. The noise storage control device allows the machine noise signal to be stored into the noise storage device, based on a result of the determination of the noise signal by the second evaluation device. The sound output device reproduces the noise signal from the noise storage device. The office information system of the present invention is effective in providing easy searching and recognition of a failure in the system by using the result of the machine noise evaluation, and in providing the user with an operational message that allows efficient failure recovery in the system.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved by an office information system including: an image processing device which prints a processed image, obtained from an original image, on a copy sheet; a self-diagnosis device which determines whether the printed image on the copy sheet, output from the image processing device, is defective in image quality; and a voice output device which outputs a synthesized voice when the printed image is determined as being defective, the synthesized voice indicating a result of the determination by the self-diagnosis device.
In the office information system of the present invention, the voice output device outputs a synthesized voice when the printed image is determined as being defective, the synthesized voice indicating a result of the determination by the self-diagnosis device. The office information system of the present invention is effective in providing easy recognition of lack of toner or lack of copy sheets in the system by providing a user with a failure-detection voice message based on the result of the self-diagnosis of the system.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved by an office information system including: a voice input device which accepts an input voice from a user so as to generate an electrical signal corresponding to the input voice; a voice recognition device which recognizes the electrical signal, produced by the voice input device, as being an operational command input to the office information system; and a command execution device which executes an image forming operation on the office information system based on the operational command recognized by the voice recognition device, wherein the voice recognition device is configured to recognize the electrical signal as being an operational command which sets an operating condition change to the image forming operation, the operating condition change being represented by a difference between a previously-set operating condition and a currently-set operating condition.
In the office information system of the present invention, the voice recognition device is configured to recognize the electrical signal as being an operational command which sets an operating condition change to the image forming operation, the operating condition change being represented by a difference between a previously-set operating condition and a currently-set operating condition. The command execution device executes an image forming operation on the office information system based on the recognized operational command. The office information system of the present invention is effective in providing an increased operability in the setting of the operating conditions and the operating condition changes to the image forming operation being executed on the office information system. It is possible for the office information system of the present invention to ensure easy operating-condition setting procedures for the user.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved by an office information system including: an operational event detecting device which determines whether an operational error occurs in the system by detecting a plurality of predetermined operational events in the system; and a voice message device which outputs a voice message based on a result of the detection of the plurality of predetermined operational events, the voice message being indicative of the occurrence of an operational error in the system.
In the office information system of the present invention, the voice message device outputs a voice message based on a result of the detection of the plurality of predetermined operational events, the voice message being indicative of the occurrence of an operational error in the system. The office information system of the present invention is effective in providing improved man-machine interface which allows the user to easily recognize the operational error in the system.